We’re happy to say that you can buy Spectre products almost anywhere where automotive accessories are sold, and we enjoy learning more about our dealers and distributors.
We are pleased to be working with Race-Mart in Tampa, Fl, because they not only support the Speed by Spectre products, their whole site and company is run by racers!
Race-Mart is an e-commerce performance aftermarket automotive and truck parts supplier. With over 400,000 items on their website and a huge selection of products that help your vehicle go fast or look good, the crew at Race-Mart can get you parts for drag racing, circle track racing, road racing, off road racing, street/strip, show vehicles, strictly street vehicles, trucks & SUVS, general repair and maintenance. Whew, what else could you ask for?
The Race-Mart team has been racing NHRA Super Comp and bracket racing for 30 years. The car has run an elapsed time 5.11 seconds at over 134 mph in the 1/8th mile and has run 1.13 seconds in the first 60 feet. We’re really proud to see the Spectre decals on their car and trailer, and we wish the team best of luck in the NHRA Super Comp Class this year.
Do you race with Spectre products? Tell us about it and maybe you’ll see your name on the Spectre blog!
Visitors to our SEMA booth last fall might remember Cass Brantley’s Rubicon descending a mountain of Spectre Filters and showing off the Speed by Spectre Jeep Intake kit.
Well, we were pleased to see that the Jeep continues to be in the middle of adventures. Jeep Guru Tom Morr sent us this photo:
Tom says “- Just another Jeep adventure in Houston…”
Well, Cass must have been breathing hard, but with a Spectre intake, his Jeep was cool and collected.
What adventures do you have with your Spectre-equipped vehicles?
We met JF Launier at a Goodguys Show and he proposed a couple projects that we might be interested in. JF works out of a shop in Osooyos, BC Canada and we were impressed with the JF Kustoms project cars.
The one that interested us the most was a ‘57 Chevy that was not only going to SEMA but also participating in the 2011 OUSCI. Nicknamed “Redline”, the blue bowtie featured all the best in hot rod options, a huge 572, Bowler 4l80e, Ridetech suspension, Flowmaster exhaust, BASF paint in a georgeous cobalt shade, Curtis Speed wheels, and a Lee Baxters hot rod interior. All it needed was a good looking air intake to top it all off. Luckily, we knew where to find that!
JF chose one of our Quikits for the ‘57 Chevy and it fit perfectly, and looks great under the hood.
“Redline” had a very respectable first showing at Optima, in a class of some of the finest muscle cars on earth. We’re proud to work with JF and builders like him.
We are loving the growing trend of building show cars that can perform on the track, so when Curt and Fritz contacted us to see if we’d like to be a part of the RPM Hot Rod’s ‘62 Chevy II build, we were happy to say yes…well, once we stopped laughing at the build’s nickname. “The Runt”? Poor lil’ Chevy. It’s hard being a compact car.
RPM built the car for one of their longtime customers, Gerry Kerna, who was interested in competing in the autocross, as well as adding to her show car collection.
The Runt may have a funny name, but the car is no joke! With custom fabricated chassis, LS7, Tremec 6-Speed and all kinds of custom body modifications, this cherry beast will definitely have the last laugh at anyone who dares to challenge Kerna on the track.
The Runt not only won Goodguys Muscle Machine of the Year award for 2011, but it also was invited to join the elite at OUSCI this year.
Anyone who takes the time to peek under the hood of the Runt will definitely appreciate the quality and hard work that went into building this car. Of course, we’re especially delighted by the awesome custom Spectre intake. Not only did RPM add their own unique coating to the aluminum tubes, they utilized the inline filter option we have, making a lot of people question where the filter went. Ooh, a mystery!
We will be working closely with RPM in the future and hope they will continue to use Spectre’s parts to build custom intakes for their one off cars. We also will have a special surprise that we are working with RPM which will debut mid March. Stay tuned for sneak peeks.
We get a lot of questions from Mopar fans asking us why our project stable doesn’t currently have any active Pentastar projects (We do have a Dart in the rafters, stay tuned for a closer look at that lil’ guy in an upcoming post.)
The main reason is, who wants to compete with Dan “the man” Weishaar? Seriously, look at this thing. Can we do better than that?
It’s a real 383-powered ‘68 Roadrunner and it barely weighs more than our Dart. At 3556 pounds, the blue bird seems remarkably nimble skirting the cones at a Good Guys Autocross and Dan doesn’t limit his driving adventures to nice, rubbery cone barriers.
In the last year, we’ve seen Weishaar at Optima events, at SEMA, on local cruise days and, perhaps most impressively, braving the hill at our own Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge. Perhaps our favorite thing about the Weishaar Plymouth is that Dan is never afraid to jump in and wrench on the thing, and he often includes his whole family. We approve of family automotive time.
If you want to build your own road warrior B-body, you’ll have to talk to Dan at one of the 2012 events. Luckily, his sweet cowl airbox is available from us, so at least you can make your engine bay look the part.
For more specs on Dan’s car, check out some of the following links.
As we look back over the past year, it gives us time to think about all the amazing cars we had the pleasure to see, race against, and even wrench on. In the driver’s seat of every sweet ride though, is a person, and we’d like to take some time to spotlight some of Spectre’s biggest supporters and close friends (don’t worry though, we’ll still give you car photos).
One person that is guaranteed to cheer you up no matter how bad the race weekend, Albert Melchior.
Albert comes down from Canada, where he owns Carbon Kustoms, a couple times a year to participate, and often sponsor, many of the Pro-Touring races.
It’s always a pleasure to see Albert. He has an enthusiastic attitude and it’s reflected in the cars he builds and races. We first worked with Carbon Kustoms when Albert called us with a project in mind and wanted to know what tubes he should use. We sent him a couple things and like magic a Spectre custom intake was created.
Albert spends so much time under the hood, that he’s got some help behind the wheel. Kevin Miller, co-builder of Albert’s Firebird is a young and very talented driver. He has grown up around cars with the influential help of his father and has a ‘69 Camaro of his own that he built himself. Kevin has already participated in a handful of events throughout this year and did an excellent job piloting Albert’s ‘70 Firebird. We look forward to seeing more of Albert, Kevin and the Firebird in 2012!
We spend a lot of time on the track, whether autocrossing at Good Guys shows, skidding to a perfect brake stop or tempting fate on the wicked turns of HWY 341. Basically, we’re constantly surrounded by hot shoe drivers, from our own Brandy Morrow to friends like Brian Finch , John Hotchkis, Kyle and Stacy Tucker, Mary Pozzi or 341 double champion, Lou Gigliotti.
Recently though, we started thinking about all the great rookies we meet. When we go to shows, we meet whole families building cars together, and we really think it’s cool to talk with kids who are just getting their driving permits about their car interests and driving goals. We guess you could call them “new shoe” drivers, but we think of them as SPIs…Spectre People of Interest.
We decided that our new shoe drivers deserve as much attention as the hot shoes, so with no further ado, we’d like to introduce Sam Farrington, our very first “SPI” highlight.
Name: Sam Farrington
Age: 15 1/2
We first met Sam at the Good Guys Nashville show in May, 2011. Sam had been working his way through the passenger seat of all the vendor cars and when he ended up next to Brandy in the Carbon Camaro, she had a chance to chat with him while they prepared to run.
Sam was a pro at these Goodguys Shows. He and his family have been attending car shows and pro-touring races longer than many of us have been in the industry!
Sam’s parents Tom and Debbie are active car people. Tom has a ’66 Chevelle he races and Debbie has a ’64 Chevelle Wagon. Sam told us that both his parents encouraged him to get involved in building and working on the cars. If something on one of the cars needs to be checked, Sam is there alongside his dad looking under the hood of the car.
We ran in to Sam and his family at many more events this summer, including Run to Music City, Midwest Musclecar Challenge and Goodguys Indy. Sam was known as the “professional passenger.” He had more seat time as a passenger at the Goodguys Nashville Show than any one person did as a driver; and Brian Finch drove a lot of cars that weekend!
We spoke with Sam’s parents about his car adventures. They had been working with him on basic skills such as parking and even some autocrossing. Sam had also spent some time one summer with Detroit Speed. Kyle and Stacy had taken him in and he helped them around the shop.
Give or take a year… this kid will be kicking everyone’s butt and by the time he is 18 and allowed on a Goodguys track, all of us old timers won’t be able to keep up with Sam.
Sam impressed us because he quickly saw that you do not need a car to learn to drive and be competitive. Sam already has the experience years beyond his age. His seat time as a passenger has already helped him become a better driver. Even more so, his seat time with multiple drivers has taught him several different driving styles that he can apply to his own when he finally gets to switch seats and get behind the wheel. He’s already giving his mom and dad pointers when they take out their Chevelles. We know he’s eager to challenge his sister Kaytlin on the autocross and the skills that both Farrington kids learn on the race track will make them safer drivers on the street as well.
Keep an eye out for Spectre parts on the Farrington’s wagon and hopefully a custom install on Sam’s car when it is ready.
When we arrived at the salt flats with Speedliner last week after towing it over 800 miles, we were feeling like hard-core Bonneville fans. Then we met Jeff Madden.
Jeff and his son drove all the way from Charlston, South Carolina in a Cummins Diesel powered ‘31 Model A. Ok, Jeff, we tip our hats to you!
Jeff explains in the video that he chose the spectre filter for his hot rod because he knew it was a good match for the turbo charged engine, and you can hear Amir discussing the similar filters used on the Speedliner’s turbo charged engine.
Jeff gets 41 mpg. The Speedliner? It gets about a mile per gallon. Maybe we should switch to a Cummins…
One of the interesting things about traveling the country going to car shows is that we get to meet a lot of other vendors and get involved with their projects.
When Gateway Classic Mustangs called us to tell us about their 5.0 powered 1969 Mustang project, we were happy to provide cold air intake components to help that pony breathe. At the Joliet show we were able to see the finished product, and it’s a beauty!
Keep an eye out for the full build story on Speed Channel’s Hot Rod TV on September 24th 2011.
When we introduced the Spectre cars yesterday, we joked that they were the stars of the show, but like any production, the real stars are behind the scenes.
Without the people of Power Tour, the cars would just be sitting around, leaking and rusting with no one to fix, drive or admire them.
Here are some of the main players in this year’s Power Tour. Bear in mind that this is just a list of a few of the people who have helped us make this possible, and who have joined us to drive this week. Our appreciation goes out to everyone.
Campbell Auto Restoration (CAR) should be a familiar name to any regular visitors to the Spectre blog. Mark Schwartz, Mark Frasier and Tom Dillard have done amazing work building Spectre cars like the Carbon Camaro and working out the bugs in some of our older builds.
Mark Schwartz has kept us all in stitches with his hilarious story-telling skills and dramatic reenactments. Don’t let his comic side fool you though, Mark has forgotten more about cars than many of us will ever know.
Mark Frasier is on the trip with his wife Bobbi. Mark and Bobbi are huge race fans, and have several very cool project cars of their own. Bobbi has been taking the wheel of the Green Camaro when we’ve been short on drivers, and Mark has had the crucial job of bringing up the rear in our caravan, usually in the Mach 1.
Tom Dillard brings some much needed calm to the fiery temperaments of the two Marks. Tom is never too busy to sit down and explain the tech specs on any of the Spectre cars and he’s also a very skilled chase-vehicle driver. It’s mostly thanks to Tom that we have such amazing photos from the road.
Our second married team on the road are Lance and Sherry Peltier. Lance is the genius behind the 2JZ Maverick, and he’s piloted it on every Power Tour since its inception. Lance has been invaluable on this trip both for his marvelous attitude and his brilliant navigational skills. Believe us, leading a train of eight muscle cars through the back woods of the south is no easy feat. Perhaps his day-job as a civil engineer has made him better equipped for figuring out highways?
Sherry just joined us in Indianapolis, but she’s already making herself a part of the team. Sherry can drive the f250 like it’s a race car, and she does it all while cheerfully cussing out any lane-invading drivers in a charming Texan accent.
Sherry also literally offered the belt off her jeans to our photographer, whose pants have been dangerously low-slung through most of our journey. Thank you Sherry, you have done the world a great service.
Another ray of sunshine on this trip has been Brittany Buchanan from International Aero Car Care. After meeting Brandy at a Good Guys event, Brittany offered to ride along on Power Tour to help keep the cars clean. We’re not sure if she knew what she was getting in to! Besides detailing cars in 100 degree weather, Brit has also been roped in to driving the F250 for the first half of the trip, where she has impressed everyone with her quick learning and natural talent as a driver.
Our final guest long haulers are Rick and Mary Dobbertin. The Dobbertin name may be new to the Spectre blog, but any of you hot-rodders out there ought to recognize it. Rick’s extreme automotive creations have been featured numerous times in magazines like Hot Rod and Car Craft, and he’s currently working on an amphibious car project. We shouldn’t have to explain to you why he and Amir are friends.
Amir and Rick share more than just the refusal to accept the phrase “can’t be built”. The two men have spent much of this trip swapping jokes and arguing over who tells them better, and who told them originally to the other. None of the jokes can be repeated here.
Obviously the Spectre crew is a big part of Power Tour. Amir and Dusanka are riding with the caravan, but the real heroes of this trip of the folks on the rig.
Mike, Brandy and Lisa Morrow, along with truck drivers, Guy, Steve and Lee not only have to drive the hundreds of miles between venues, but they have to do it every evening as soon as the show ends. While the caravaners are relaxing at dinner, the rig crew is already packed up and on their way to the next state, where they set up all over again. It’s an exhausting schedule, and every booth crew on Power Tour deserves a shout-out for the work they do.
Along with our Long Haul gang, we’ve also been joined by several guest drivers and customer cars. Keep an eye out in our photos for the Kooks (Jaime and Sonja), Karl C. and the guys from Pep Boys. It’s a pleasure having their company.
The whole crew was really excited about the drive to Indianapolis from Nashville. The route looked amazing; twisting two-lane roads through Indiana farmland, and the show itself was going to be held inside the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
We were all looking forward to seeing the Speedway and the Indy Museum, but if there’s one truth about roadtripping, it’s that you should never be too set on actually reaching your destination at the desired time.
First we hit a nasty traffic jam. You know you’re not going anywhere when the GPS offers this suggestion:
The traffic put us way behind schedule, although it did give us a chance to meet some of our fellow Power Tour participants.
When we finally cleared the parking lot, the roads were, in fact, incredible, but our Pep Boys drivers had a plane to catch in Indy that evening, so after a Cracker Barrel Brunch, we hit the main highway.
Those of us who straggled behind found a very stern police office guarding the entrance to the track when we finally arrived. No amount of pleading or threats would make him let us in, so we parked around the corner from the track in a small church parking area.
We weren’t the only ones to fall afoul of Officer Mean, and pretty soon the whole parking lot was full of cars and local residents were strolling around to see the impromptu car show.
We met two fellows in town for a work training conference who saw the Camaro while on break and just had to stop to check it out.
We also met a new addition to the Power Tour who was rolling in a beautiful Grand National. When he saw our Spectre shirts, he popped the hood and showed off a Spectre filter. Awesome car.
Take that Indy. We didn’t need your stupid car show. We’ll make our own.
Power Tour is a like an alternate reality where everyone drives a cool car and no one ever minds if you need to merge in to their lane.
After the Georgia stop on Sunday, we took a curving back road approach to Alabama, on Monday morning.
We keep starting sentences this way, but “One of the coolest things about Power Tour…” is how in the smaller towns, folks set up picnics on their porches, and out in their yards and just sit by the road waving at the cars going by. We felt like celebrities all the way from Georgia to Alabama.
We were welcomed to the Montgomery show by the sounds of drag cars.
After cruising the grassy show field at the Montgomery Motorsports Park, we left Alabama early Monday morning for a break-neck dash to Nashville, Tennessee in order to meet up with the Morrows and some special guests from Pep Boys who will be taking a turn behind the wheel for the next leg of the journey – up to Indianapolis.
One thing that has really been a pleasure on this trip — actually at all events, but especially on Power Tour — is meeting Spectre customers. Repeatedly we’ve been told how much people have liked the experience of working with the Spectre Team, and how Steve, or Mike, or Guy, or Brandy have gone above and beyond to help them pick out and install the perfect intake for their car. While we already know how amazing the Spectre team is, it still makes us feel really good to hear it from our customers.
Let’s have a peek at some of the customer cars we’ve seen so far while we try to remember what city we’re currently leaving (just kidding, it’s Nashville, just look at the view)
We’ll have interviews with lots of Spectre car owners up on the Products blog later next week, but for now, scroll through and imagine that it’s very, very hot where you are. Wow, it’s just like you’re here with us!
We have just over one month before the second annual running of the Spectre 341 Challenge. We’ve posted here before about how the best thing about the event is not the ghost town feel of Virginia City’s wild west setting, nor even the 5.2 miles of thrilling, twisting road, but rather the people who participate.
One of the very first people to sign up for the inaugural race last year was Car Craft Magazine editor, Jeff Smith. Now, Jeff spends every day talking about cars, test driving cars, working on cars and writing about cars, so we wouldn’t blame him if he got a bit blasé, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Jeff showed up with his famed blue 1965 Chevelle in 2010 and cheerfully tackled the hill, enthusiastically bench racing with other participants and even swapping in a new alternator mid race in order to make another run.
Jeff is a great story teller, so we’ll let him take over and tell you what it’s like to run Hwy 341 and why everyone should have four or more Chevelles.
What do you do (day job)?
I am the Senior Technical Editor for Car Craft Magazine
Have you always liked cars, or did you get in to cars because of a friend or family member?
I have been into cars about as long as I can remember. When I was ten years old, I started hanging out at my grandfather’s Skelly gas station in Boone, Iowa and he put me to work pumping gas. That was the real start of my love with cars. I graduated high school in 1972 right at the end of the muscle car era so I was around them all the time. It was a great time to be a kid – just young enough to miss Vietnam and just old enough to really enjoy all those muscle cars. My first car was a ‘66 GTO with a 389 and 4-speed, but my favorite car that I still own is my ‘66 SS396 Chevelle 360hp car that is slowly being restored — with an emphasis on slowly…
What’s your dream car?
That’s really a moving target, but strangely I’d really like to own an early CTS-V Cadillac! I never thought I’d hear myself say that, but that car really does something for me. And there’s room for all my big friends, which is a plus.
How long have you had the Chevelle?
I traded a V6-powererd Vega for my ’65 Chevelle somewhere around the early ’90s. It has competed in or participated in an amazing list of different events and competitions. I’ve bracket raced it, it has done the Power Tour twice in the early days (when I was with Hot Rod), I’ve raced it twice in the Pony Express 100 (hitting a top speed of 167+mph), it competed in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational in 2010, two of the west coast Pro Touring Run to the Coast events, and an uncounted number of cruises and car shows. I also want to run it in the Muroc Mile standing mile event sometime. I think it will do 140+ mph if I work on the aero a little. It’s kind of a brick. But when you say “the Chevelle” we have to be specific as to the ’65, because I have three other ’66 Chevelles plus a ’65 El Camino. It’s a sickness for which there is no cure.
What are some of the modifications from stock?
The short version is an absolutely ancient Lingenfelter-built 420ci small-block Chevy with a Accel Gen VII EFI system, AFR heads, a Bow Tie block, and a Crower rotating assembly. It only has a Richmond 4-speed behind it along with a 3.31:1 geared 12-bolt. The biggest change, and what we continue to work on is the suspension. It’s a rolling billboard for Global West Suspension with a complete tubular upper and lower control arms and a coil-over front conversion. The rear also has a Global coil-over shock conversion using a set of verrry nice set of Penske double-adjustable shocks on all four corners that have really made a huge difference in the handling. Tires are BFG 27535R18 KDWs mounted on 18 x 9.5-inch wheels with six inches of back spacing. Most Chevelle guys don’t believe you can get that much tire under a stock wheelwell but you can if you pay attention to the backspacing.
What was the first competitive driving you ever did?
It was a class race after I graduated from my first driving school at the Jim Russell British School of Motor Racing at Riverside around 1980! We were driving Van Diemen Formula Fords with Cortina four-cylinder engines and a Hewland gearbox that was really hard to shift correctly. It was way too much fun and cemented my feeling that turning corners was more challenging than going straight on the drag strip.
What other racing events do you participate in?
Pony Express 100 in the 140 and 150 mph classes in two different years with my Chevelle. I’m most proud of the fact that I finished both of those races. It’s a lot harder than you think. I also rode shotgun with John Lingenfelter in 1990 at the Silver State Classic where we went 206 mph in his red ‘86 Corvette. That was cool.
I also participated in something called the Triathlon of Motor Sports in Las Vegas – two passes on a drag strip, two laps on a 3/8-mile paved oval, and four laps on a 1.6mile road course that has since been replaced by the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That was a fun event – I was competing in the A-Production class against Corvettes and finished second in two events to a Lingenfelter ‘Vette. I’ve also done a bunch of track days at Willow Springs, Buttonwillow and Fontana. I also raced with a buddy Dan Livezey with a Street Prepared 5 Camaro in Pro Solo where we did well.
How does competitive driving differ from street driving?
Mainly you can concentrate on your line and not worry about cross traffic or what some idiot in the next lane is going to do, or not do. You just cannot let it all out on the street – it’s just too dangerous. That’s why I do so many track days since I use them to tune my car.
How does driving a muscle car differ from competing in a new car?
New cars are great, but they lack personality. Racing with an older muscle car adds personality, but also grief (which is the real cost of owning these cars) since they break all the time and at the most inopportune moment (usually when the most people are watching). This is what happened to me at last year’s 341 race with a dead alternator. Subsequent electrical problems sidelined me at later events until I finally put a whole new wiring harness in the car. Can you imagine? A 36 year-old wire harness that failed! New cars present far less grief unless you start modifying them – then they’re just like older cars, just more expensive.
How did you find out about the 341 Challenge?
I’ve spent too much time around Amir lately and his boundless enthusiasm easily rubs on me. If I’m not careful, I’ll be volunteering to help run the streamliner car and getting sucked into that deal. It would be very easy…
(Ed. Note: Done, you’re on the team, Jeff….)
What did you think about the event last year?
I didn’t come adequately prepared for as many laps as we ended up running. The main thing was I forgot that we were at 7,000 feet. I probably didn’t need nearly as much octane as I thought to run my normally aspirated engine. I need more experience with tuning my engine for altitude to know how much octane I can get away with.
Why do you want to return to 341 this year?
It’s like any other competitive event, I want to improve on last year’s lap time.
Do you have any recommendations for the newbies this year?
Have fun and don’t be intimidated by the mountain.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself, your car, or racing in general?
We never know where we’re going to meet a Spectre customer. At the recent Car Craft Magazine Anti-Tour, we spotted a stealthy little Dodge parked in the shade. A peek under the hood showed off a custom intake using Spectre components.
Dodge only offered the Demon for three years, and 1972 was the very last opportunity for a customer to pick up the sporty A-body. We spoke with Marc from Viau Motorsports about the car.
“The build for this car was guided by two main ideas,” Marc told us. “The first was for a road race inspired car to be used in ’spirited driving’ on-road tours, with reliability, ease of maintenance, and self support as key factors in design. The second was to use as many Mopar family parts as possible in the design and construction. This Demon was designed for the road.”
We haven’t been the only people to be impressed by the Viau build. The Demon was last year’s winner of the Mopar Muscle Magazine True Street Challenge.
There are many aspects of the Spectre 341 Challenge which make it an unusual race. Everything from the surrounding town (which seems straight out of a spaghetti western) to the race course itself (which seems to have been cut right out of Germany’s Nürburgring) makes a run at 341 different from the normal track event.
The most amazing thing about 341 though isn’t the wooden sidewalks or the off-camber turns, but rather the fact that every participant has an equal chance at glory, because this isn’t a racetrack you can memorize, it’s a real road, and the landmarks and surface change every year.
No one better demonstrates the egalitarian nature of racing 341 than 2010 driver, Jeremy Kappus. A Reno native in a self-tuned ‘06 Mitsubishi EvoIX RS, Jeremy shocked everyone on the first day of racing by turning a faster time than any other racers on the grid, including big names like Millen, Gigliotti and Gillies. While the high horsepower cars eventually claimed the top three spots, Kappus stayed close by and finished with amazingly consistent results in the mid 3:25 range. Pretty impressive!
Jeremy is coming back for 2011, and we caught up with him to get his thoughts on race cars vs. street cars, why driving is the best way to tune a car and what new 341 drivers should expect from the Virginia City hill.
What do you do (day job)? For the last 3-4 years, I’ve been working on cars, specializing in mainly Evos, doing everything from regular maintenance to track prepping and performance part installs (clutchs,cams,turbos etc). Along with mechanical work, I also tune Evos, Subarus, Nissans and the occasional unusual project. I’m currently helping (fellow 341 participant) Adam Auerbach tune his GMC Syclone to run on E85. I specialize in tuning stock ECUs.
Have you always liked cars? I’ve been working on cars since I was a teenager. I originally was in to stereo systems and lowriders, but it wasn’t terribly fulfilling, and the first time I saw Rally racing on Speed TV, I knew that was a direction I wanted to go in. Seeing those 4-wheel drive 4-cylinder Turbo cars was exciting, those cars are insane!
How long have you had the Evo? I bought the Evo new in 06 after getting frustrated with my previous project. I had learned a lot about tuning on a pretty extreme Subaru build, which, like many projects, had gotten way out of hand. It had a full turbo kit and a programmable ECU and at that time in Reno, you couldn’t just throw it on the dyno at a local shop and get a good tune. I had to teach myself, and mostly by ear. Try something, drive it, if it rattles, back it down…it wasn’t the best way to build a car and it was especially difficult to get all those aftermarket parts to work together properly. I got tired of blowing it up and rebuilding it, and I had read that the 2006 Evo offered a fully programmable stock ECU, which I found intriguing.
What are some of the modifications from stock? The Evo is such a good, solid platform that you can do great things just by refining and blueprinting the stock package. I felt like people rarely drove or tuned these cars to their potential. The motor has never even been out of my car. It has upgraded Alcon brakes and KW coilover suspension and I did change the cams and springs but the turbo is stock, and on these cars, the turbo is really the powerplant. I wanted to see how far I could take it with the stock turbo. It’s actually pretty amazing, even in mostly stock trim, the car is fast enough to scare me.
I did change the seats to racing seats, trying to stay in the seat during a turn by holding on to the steering wheel isn’t how you want to race!
What was the first competitive driving you ever did? I’ve only been driving on a track for maybe four or five years. I started out by going to the drag strip with guys to help tune their cars, and then a friend took me to Reno Fernley Raceway. There I was, on the track in the Evo, hanging with trailered Porsches and I knew that I wanted to keep doing that kind of driving.
Driving on a track is so different from driving on the street. Even the most aggressive street driving is only maybe 75% of what you can do on a track. On the street, in the back of your mind, there’s always the concern of cross traffic, of speed limits…on the street you always have to think, “How am I going to save it?” And the thing is, you can’t.
Racing a closed course allows you to clear your head of normal thoughts and 341 is even more fun than a racetrack.
Why did you run the 341 Challenge in 2010? I believe that it’s really important for people in the car community to support racetracks and race events, so when I saw on the forums that someone was doing another race on Hwy 341, I wanted to make sure I did my part to support it. Also, the entry fee is incredibly cheap for that much track time.
What did you think about the event last year? I ran the Ferrari club hill climb early in 2010 and it was really fun. Racing the Spectre 341 was interesting because it was a first time race and because of the other participants. Racing with Lou (Gigliotti) and Steve Millen was cool. You can’t bench race it. You can’t practice. Driving up at 45 mph in one lane is totally different than driving the same road at speed. I genuinely had no idea how I’d do against those guys, and really, neither did they. It was the first time for them too.
Why do you want to return to 341 this year? This kind of racing is the best ever. After a few runs, you blank out the cliffs and it’s all about the actual road and corners. Each corner flows, compared to the race tracks I’ve been on. There’s no slow corners, no bumps.
From what I’ve heard, racing Hwy 341 was almost a cult in the old days and that makes sense, it’s really really fun, it lets you test your memory, your driving skill, your tuning skills. It’s just a perfect test of driver and machinery.
Do you have any recommendations for the new entrants this year? Make sure your car is fully functional and reliable before you get to the hill. It could ruin your day if you waste your runs due to mechanical problems. If it isn’t mechanically sound, you can’t tune it, and if it isn’t tuned, you can’t drive it.
Go to have fun, let go of all your expectations and just see what it’s all about. Don’t go to compete with anyone else. It’s all about you and your car. Look at yourself, see how you can better your own driving. The cars are all too different to compete with. Don’t let someone else push you off the cliff!
Any last thoughts for readers? This is what I like doing. I just want to see what my car can do. Racing shows you where you’ve cut corners in the build, and I want to do things right. Road racing makes you a consistent driver, and it reminds you to keep all the fasteners tight. My advice to new racers: Use a torque wrench.
